Reflective Essay: What I Learned In My Writing Class

My writing experience about the career paper was more informative than I was expecting. By reading the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), I quickly realized that there was so much information about a career in medicine, I was not aware of especially with regards to employment and predicted employment rates. However, the most difficult part of the writing process was trying to incorporate personal information into the narrative while using statistics and descriptions from OOH to come up with a coherent essay. For example, with a plethora of personal information and details about factors that has motivated me to pursue a career in medicine, it was difficult to summarize and incorporate information from OOH into my

I immensely struggled when writing. Taking my scrambled thoughts and uncoordinated analysis and converting it into clean and understandable words on a page was arduous. I could not express my thoughts in proper academic format. I understood the importance of writing to every subject. It was essential that I learn to condense my ideas and feeling into coherent written word. After much debate, I decided that the best way to improve my writing skills was to take an advanced English course.

Additionally, this chapter identifies some fears that college students may face when taking writing classes, especially at the time of working on an essay. Most of the time, these terrors are the product of non-factual or misleading beliefs from students that have not taken a writing class yet, however, it plays an important decision making when enrolling to take writing classes.

Writing is a practice that most of us were taught when we were young. We were taught the basics of grammar, how to form a sentence, conjunction words, how to write paragraphs and more. Although we have learned this skill while growing up and have used the skill every year after entering kindergarten, this does not mean our writing process will ensure the best work. The authors that I chose each encourage their audience to excel in the art of writing in their own way to help with the writing process.

Before my ENC1101 class I had no idea how to write college leveled essays. I felt like a lost puppy wondering in the woods. In the start of this class I felt stressed out because I wasn’t so sure if my writing was good enough. I spent days just trying to come up with the right ideas, but most of all I was afraid to fail the assignment. It felt like I was having writers block throughout all my essays. Even though there is a writing center in Valencia Community College and a SL tutor where I could’ve got help from I choose not to. I was afraid for someone to look at my essays and not like it or just tell me everything I did wrong. Which would have just brought me down. But in reality I have come to understand that feedback is a great way for improvement.

Upon entering English 111, I knew I would be writing papers. However, I did not anticipate how much room I had for improvement. Throughout this term I have been enlightened with so much knowledge that I may have forgotten or have been exposed to for the first time. Certainly, my experience with essay writing has been solidified due to newfound knowledge of proper work citing, MLA standards and the steps of planning an essay. Perhaps, my time away from a learning environment slowed me down a bit, other times I feel as though I have an advantage due to life experience. An online environment has certainly been challenging but throughout the course I have provided solid work and consistent grades commendable of an A grading.

Writing influences the way humans communicate. Good writing skills are essential in the working world and it’s important for our own self. The love for writing creative stories that engage the reader personally feels like an impossible task. After thirteen years of English I’ve realized that English does not come easy to me. It’s important to note that my writing skills have improved over the years. Going into my first year of college, I was nervous. I knew that my writing needed improvement. During my first semester of college, I was able to take the WAC 101 class. This class not only improved my writing, but it also encouraged me to start reading again. I look at reading as a task instead of a hobby, but I know that it can progress toward something that I like to do on my free time. WAC 101 is a class that helps develop a student’s writing skills. To measure the progress, outcomes in different areas of writing are reflected upon.

I totally agree with what the author is saying in the text. It takes time to get a good product out even though we think some people are deep and wonderful they still have the same struggles that we have when it comes to writing. I like this text because it is realistic it is giving an account of first drafts from common day people and shows how it is even for professional writers have problems with. This point is important because as people we sometimes feel we are not as good or capable of doing something not realizing that the people we look up to have the same problems we do. Another point that I agree with the author on is that you have to start somewhere. Many times as writers we don’t know where to start when it comes to writing. That being said we will just sit and think for ten twenty minutes when we could've just been information on the paper and then editing it later. In addition I liked that the author used examples from his professional experience when it came to writing food reviews. By him using details like how he went to the restaurant and sat down with friends and took notes of what was said. This was good to me because it helps me connect with him and the things that he does to write his reviews.

I have always prided myself on my thoughts and ideas; it is my ability to convey those thoughts through writing, with which I struggle. In highschool I managed to get by fairly well in my English class. We were primarily graded on reading comprehension, and so my poor writing skills had little opportunity to negatively impact my grade. I did not find this to be so in Writing 100, however. It quickly came to my attention that I would need to improve my writing if I wished to do well. I realized that in order to improve my writing, I would need to fix one of my worst qualities as a writer: my tendency to begin writing without properly understanding the prompt. This past semester in Writing 100 I have made an effort to fix this, and it has led me to become more intentional of the purpose of my essays, which, in my opinion, has helped highlight an intellectual depth that my work was incapable of displaying before.

I used to consider writing as tumble words from your mind, write, read it through, fix minor mistakes, and done. However, you rarely get successful. The truth is many students, including myself, struggle with starting to write a word, or getting stack in the middle without knowing the main point of the writing. After completing English 101, I can explain the writing process, evaluate the strengths of my essay, and identify my weaknesses.

     One of the techniques I am going to use through out college is talking to

I like don’t want to write papers. Sentences like that were sometimes what I would produce in writing high school and college essays. Sometimes it was due to not having a clear thought process and a wondering mind, not doing a good job of proof reading my work, and more recently because of technology. With the help of spell check, technology plays a small part in how effective pieces of work become. The ability to cut, paste, and move sentences around in your paper without having to retype minimizes the burden on all writers. After having to take an Introduction to Writing class again, it has helped me to re-learn the mistakes I used to make. Mistakes like correctness faults, grammatical errors, and proof reading before submitting my work.

Before I came to college, I felt my writing had to follow a certain pattern and be fixated around one way of thinking. What I was fortunate to learn was quite the opposite. Writing does not have to follow any certain pattern, but can rather be structured through many different possibilities. I was also told in high school that my papers either had to agree or disagree with the given topic, even if I believed otherwise. This formulated a very one-track way of thinking when it came to my papers. Now I know that I can let my mind explore new and exciting ideas. I can agree, disagree, compliment, criticize, and question the author however my heart desires, as long as I have the evidence to back myself up. Many authors in the book, Writing About Writing, explain their processes as well as the processes of others when it comes to writing. As a writer, I can draw on my own processes and relate them to the authors, as well as use their ideas and apply them to myself. Through reading, I have learned new methods of invention, planning and revising, and incubation when it comes to writing. All ways I can use to create more meaningful and creative work.

This class’s challenges have been extremely rewarding. I have always enjoyed essay-style writing and I am always eager to work on my skill and style. I would have to say that creating my thesis with three main points that I can further develop has been the most challenging to me. This is because I learned to discuss each of my main points in each of the sentences leading up to my thesis statement; thus, creating my first paragraph of my paper. I am aware that this is not that far from how we are being taught to do it now, but it is more difficult than not to change old habits. If I had any advice to give to future students of this course, it would be to always clear your mind before you begin brainstorming and preparing your outline. Once

Written words have always been my strongpoint, but everyone has weaknesses even in where they are strong. When writing a paper I have a tendency to overuse commas, since some of my English teachers in elementary schools told me that the use of the comma was to demonstrate when a person takes a breath or pause in their speech. In normal speaking I often do that anyhow, which messed me up when it came to writing. I also have been told I often sound too informal in most of my college writing. I am actively working on both problems.